Wednesday 9 July 2014

Hampton Court Flower show 2014

An old boss of mine used to say, "there is no such thing as a bad day off"


And boy was he right about today.  I can't believe I've lived so close to Hampton Court (for 17 years for goodness sake!!) visited the palace and the formal gardens several times but NEVER EVER been to the flower show. But the opportunity presented itself to go with a show regular and her sisters and with such experienced guides who could refuse?

All I can say is that it was truly spectacular.  The colour and the fragrance was simply divine...

I'll stop wibbling and let my wholly inadequate photography show you....

There were Alliums galore...

 


There were ideas for insect friendly gardens large and small...

 

There were proper outdoor dining ideas....(where was 'im indoors when I needed him?)


Or you could go the whole outdoor living thing big style....(tree house anyone?)


Or maybe we should all just recycle more? (where can I find oil drums?)



There were nods to bee friendly gardening in many of the show gardens...

 






And some other (not so small) wildlife...


I simply LOVED "Hedgehog Street" By the hedgehog conservation society, full of tips to make gardens more hedgehog friendly I'll be trying to work some into our plot as soon as I can...



There was some incredibly colourful planting...



and some restful quiet corners...



As well as the frankly quite odd "inspirational gardens" based on he seven deadly sins...


I think I'd need a whole gardeners world programme to explain them to me!


There was the whacky...(jellybean anyone?)


or a quick swim in a lake of cranberries?


The floral tent was just a wonderland of fabulous specimens...
Hostas that no slug has ever breathed on...never mind nibbled....



Alpines that have never seen frost...


Gladiola to make Dame Edna drool...


and I could get drunk on the smell of all the lillies....


Sadly I'd run out of pennies to spend before I found these beauties... Asclepia often called Milkweed ...its very nectar rich so. It will be featuring at home at some stage next year...once I've got hold of some seeds...



I came home with bags full of bee friendly plants and the biggest smile on my face!


Saturday 5 July 2014

7, 9, 16

Can you guess?

What goes 7, 9, 16?

The clue here is that it makes me VERY ULTRA HAPPY

That's HAPPY with a capital H as in HONEY!!

You see first there were 7,  then there were 9, and today there were 16.....

In between the rain storms (can't pretend they were showers!) Nanny came for lunch and to see inside the bee hives.  And as there was a sudden burst of sunshine I decided to look inside the hive that swarmed last week -- twice as it happens but didn't get any photos of the second time.  :(

Anyway... there's a lot less bees and as they don't have a laying queen at the moment they seem to have nothing to do but bring in honey (shame) and have focussed all their energy on capping the honey in the super frames.  Capped honey has a water content less than 20% and that is PERFECT for harvesting.
So a sudden decision was made... time to harvest!

There were 16 frames of lovely capped honey...so I harvested them all!!!!


Its not about being greedy its about honey!!!

So with Nanny supervising  I set about demonstrating the art of honey extraction....


Take the frames from the super box and scrape off the wax capping on the cells....

 

Its a super sticky job (maybe that's why they call them honey supers?)


But when all the caps are gone....


Its time to spin them in the extractor....


Then with Nanny in the driving seat and starting slowly....


It all starts to spin out of the frames....like the best kind of candyfloss EVER!
This is absolutely the best bit about bee keeping  - my kitchen smells like heaven....


it takes less than an hour for there to be a lake of honey in the bottom of the extractor....


Then it needs to trickle out through the filter...slowly does it....

 

 

And then the tap opens wide and the flow really starts...


Just keep those bits of wax from blocking the filters....


Look it really Sparkles like diamonds as it flows......


and it just keeps flowing.....


What a busy afternoon I've had!


and in case you were wondering...that settling tank above the dishwasher, which I've almost begrudged getting a bit mucky with honey for the last two years is now three-quarters full!

Yum yum yum yum....

Urgent repairs....

There's only one thing worse than discovering there's a hole in your bee suit....


And that's discovering the whole zip round the hood has come apart during the last trip round the washing machine...


What a good job I've got a free morning and a box of good pins...


Now ....how am I going to sew it back on there securely?...


Ah yes, if in doubt squish the hood ....(this may have been the cause of the problem in the first place)


Right.... lots of small stitches to make sure there are no bee sizes gaps....

 
 

...and a chance to try out the new camera and its zoom and macro functions....not quite all in focus there....

Now about that original hole...


On second examination its nothing that a bit of darning....


and a funny bit of pretend measuring tape won't cure....
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